Timestrip has been recognised at the annual PCD (Perfumes, Cosmetics & Design) Awards in Paris. The awards are designed to single out packaging and design innovations and this year’s winners included Lancôme, Chanel and Bobbi Brown.
Chosen for particular mention in the Jury’s Special Distinction category, leading brand CARGO Cosmetic’s collaboration with Timestrip on its trademark lip glosses received praise for its innovation and consumer appeal.
Award wining Timestrip technology
A ‘Jury’s Special Distinction’ diploma was presented to Tristan Allen, Timestrip’s Commercial Director, at the PCD Congress and Exhibition in Paris. The congress gathers together decision makers from all the major cosmetics groups, as well as leading packaging suppliers and this year had a theme of sustainable development for make-up, perfumes and body care.
European legislation now demands that cosmetics products have a PaO (Period after Opening) symbol clearly displayed, to show consumers the shelf-life of the product once opened. Embedded in the cap of CARGO’s lip glosses, the integrated nine-month Timestrip® enables consumers to keep track of exactly how long the lip gloss has been open and gives them an accurate indication of when it needs to be replaced.
“It’s very satisfying to receive another official recognition of our work with CARGO,” said Tristan Allen. “This project resulted in a product innovation which was not only functional, but also met the very demanding aesthetic requirements of the cosmetics sector.”
Timestrip plc produces a wide range of labels to automatically monitor elapsed time, with products for a variety of conditions, from ambient environments to fridge, freezer and extremely high temperatures. The technology can be integrated into products or packaging, as well as the applied label format and is in use across a diverse range of industries.
Timestrip was a double winner at the 2009 UK Packaging Awards, taking the prizes for Labelling and Innovation of the Year.
Timestrip is celebrating after winning twice at the 2009 UK Packaging Awards. The smart label experts were nominated in the Labelling and Innovation award categories and came up trumps in both, for their project with cosmetics firm CARGO. The venture, which went live earlier this year, saw a nine-month Timestrip® integrated into the packaging of CARGO’s leading lip-gloss.
Custom timestrip indicator labels
Timestrip’s customisation of a label for the CARGO project required it to achieve two product firsts: coming up with a nine-month room temperature product and making it significantly smaller than any of their existing labels. Both were successful and the Timestrip® was embedded into the cap of CARGO’s lip-gloss at the point of manufacture.
The consumer pushes it fully into the cap before using the gloss for the first time and the integrated Timestrip® is automatically activated. It then monitors a period of nine months – the recommended ‘shelf life’ of a lip gloss – clearly indicating when that time is up and the product should be discarded. Timestrip’s nine-month room temperature label worked so well that the company is now developing a 12-month ambient product as well.
The Packaging Awards judges were impressed by the ‘genuinely innovative’ nature of Timestrip’s customised label, calling it ‘much needed’ and going on to praise the integrated solution as ‘a very good way to solve the best-by date issue.’ As well as a number of respected senior industry professionals, the panel included representatives from Waitrose, Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s, as well as global consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser, smoothie kings Innocent and confectioner Hotel Chocolat.
2008 Labelling Award winners Chesapeake Branded Packaging have enjoyed great success since their win last year and Timestrip is understandably bullish about the future.
“It’s amazing to have collected not one, but two awards,” said a thrilled Reuben Isbitsky, Timestrip’s Joint CEO. “It’s particularly satisfying to be recognised for innovation - the CARGO project is a great example of the potential and versatility of the Timestrip® technology. It shows how we are constantly pushing the boundaries of product development to work with different applications.”
The launch of the CARGO product brought a huge amount of interest from cosmetics companies keen to use Timestrip® to add value to their own products.
Timestrip’s product development has been significant over recent months and new lines include a specific filtration product; Timestrip I.V., which works in medical applications; and further development of its cold chain range. Timestrip® is becoming the global standard in visual product labelling and the company works with market-leading companies in many industries worldwide.
Leading smart label producer Timestrip has been shortlisted in two categories at this year’s UK Packaging Awards. The prestigious event is the industry’s major awards scheme and Timestrip has been nominated both in the Labelling category and for Innovation of the Year, for its recent venture with CARGO Cosmetics. The firm joins illustrious company in the Packaging Awards shortlist, including consumer products giants Reckitt Benckiser and Procter & Gamble.
Timestrip’s innovative venture with Canadian cosmetics firm CARGO saw a nine-month Timestrip® incorporated into the product packaging for CARGO’s new lip gloss range. The project required Timestrip to come up with three product development firsts: producing a nine-month label; reducing the size of the label to make it considerably smaller than standard Timestrips®; and finally, enabling the label to be activated automatically when the consumer first uses their lip gloss.
The integrated Timestrip® is embedded in the cap of CARGO’s lip gloss and is activated when the consumer pushes it fully into the cap before using the gloss for the first time. The Timestrip® then monitors a period of nine months – the recommended ‘shelf life’ of a lip gloss – clearly indicating when that time is up and the product should be discarded.
By shortlisting Timestrip in the Innovation category, the awards team has recognised a product innovation that is not only functional, but also meets the demanding aesthetic requirements of the cosmetics sector.
Timestrip’s Joint CEO, Reuben Isbitsky, is understandably pleased with the nominations: “We worked closely with CARGO to enable them to be the first to market with this technology and we have been pleased with the success of the project. Much of our work is ground-breaking in terms of labelling technology and it’s very satisfying to have those innovative qualities officially recognised with these nominations.“
With a record number of entries for this year’s UK Packaging Awards, competition will be particularly stiff. The judging panel includes top buyers from Tesco, Asda, B&Q, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, as well as representatives from a host of leading brands and packaging guru Robert Opie, founder of the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising. Their decisions will be announced at the formal awards ceremony, which takes place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Central London on 4th November.
Timestrip works with market-leading companies in many industries worldwide; the company’s success in a range of different market sectors has been such that Timestrip® is becoming the global standard in visual product labelling. With an ongoing programme of research and development, Timestrip is fast becoming the world leader in time and temperature monitoring.
Recent publicity in national newspapers about the dangers of keeping your make-up too long has reaffirmed the contribution that Timestrips® can make to greater well-being amongst consumers.
A new study by the College of Optometrists has shown that one in four women in Britain are using eye make-up more than four years old. Nearly two-thirds of the women surveyed said they continued to use their mascara for longer than two years, and a whopping 92% keep their eye make-up longer than the industry-recommended six months.
“Mascara is a breeding ground for bacteria,” says a worried Dr Susan Blakeney, Optometric Adviser to the College of Optometrists. “When women are holding on to their make-up for so long, it’s not surprising that nearly half of them suffer from itchy, watery and red eyes. The irony is that eye infections are not a pretty sight!”
Timestrip cosmetics replacement reminders
Timestrips® help protect the consumer by giving an easily visible sign of how long a product has been open or in use. British women spend £1 billion a year on cosmetics, more than any of their European neighbours, which would suggest there is quite a lot of make-up in the average woman’s bathroom! Keeping track of how long each individual item has been in use is quite a tall order. Fortunately, Timestrips® make it easy. The inexpensive labels contain a tinted liquid which, when the label is activated, moves across it at a consistent rate, allowing accurate monitoring of elapsed time. Labels can be produced to monitor anything from a few minutes up to twelve months and beyond, so there’s plenty of scope to ensure that the chances of picking up eye irritations are minimised.
European regulations now require cosmetics manufacturers to display on product packaging how long the product may be safely applied once in use (the Period after Opening). The open cream jar symbol used by most is a good indicator of how long a product will perform at its optimum level. But the danger is that it goes unnoticed and, significantly, it can’t tell the consumer when the product was opened in the first place. Timestrip® can.
The Timestrip team is already working with market-leading cosmetics manufacturer Strand Cosmetics Europe on integrating Timestrip® labels into the company’s packaging. Incorporating a label into the product packaging will enable Strand not only to ensure compliance with current legislation, but also to offer its customers a real, tangible benefit integrated into the make-up they purchase.
Reuben Isbitsky, Timestrip’s Joint CEO, is keen to push home the message about eye health: “Timestrips® are smart but also extremely simple: they’re inexpensive for manufacturers to add and easy for consumers to use. It’s so easy to keep your eyes healthy and avoid those nasty infections, just by getting into the habit of using Timestrips® on your cosmetics. It’s even easier when the labels are built into the packaging, so the more manufacturers that start integrating Timestrips® into product packaging, the greater the benefits to women’s health.”
Strand Cosmetics Europe works with high-end, international cosmetics brand names across Europe, America, Asia.